Extending information,resources and links on renewable energy and energy conservation for Canadian farmers, agri-business and those who support them in order to enhance their ability to make sound and successful business decisions.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

I Just Heard about Biochar

Have you heard about biochar. I was catching up in the office last weekend and read an article about biochar. Biochar is charcoal used in the soil to increase crop yields. It also acts to capture and sequester carbon - some believe it's potential to be billions of tonnes annually.

What really caught my interest was it's potential to improve yields and reduce fertilizer requirements. When buried, biochar captures nutrients that are leached through plants and surrounding soil. It then releases the nutrients back for plant use. This process also saves energy through reduced fertilizer consumption. How much savings is under research.

I'm searching for links and will pass them on in future blogs.
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2 comments:

  1. Jason AramburuJune 1, 2010 at 12:32 PM

    Julie,

    Glad you're familiar with biochar. Biochar production via fast pyrolysis also affords the opportunity to produce energy while making biochar. Check out our website at www.re-char.com for more info.

    cheers,

    Jason Aramburu
    Founder
    re:char

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  2. Erich J. KnightJune 3, 2010 at 9:27 PM

    Here is a great Earth Science Terra Preta Forum, Great for students;
    Terra Preta - Science Forums
    http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/


    Since we have filled the air , filling the seas to full, Soil is the Only Beneficial place left.
    Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

    Hope to see you at ISU for the 2010 US Biochar Conference

    Dr. Robert Brown , and the team in Ames Iowa are planing the next national biochar conference. The Conference will be June 27-30 in Ames Iowa Hosted by Iowa State University.
    http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/biochar2010.html

    WorldStoves in Haiti ; http://www.charcoalproject.org/2010/05/a-man-a-stove-a-mission/ and
    The Biochar Fund deserves your attention and support.
    Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
    http://scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/sw_viewBlog.php?idTheme=14&idContribution=3011

    NSF Awards $600K to BREAD: Biochar Inoculants for Enabling Smallholder Agriculture
    http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0965336

    Thanks for your efforts.
    Erich

    Erich J. Knight
    Chairman; Markets and Business Opportunities Review Committee
    US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University, June 27-30

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